Exa vs Firecrawl Search for AI agents
Exa is a web search API for AI that runs its own crawl and index, with search modes from instant to deep research. Firecrawl Search is a web scraping platform whose search endpoint returns web results and can scrape each result to Markdown in the same call.
The short answer
- Exa: Semantic, meaning-based discovery of pages, plus full page text, from an index built for AI.
- Firecrawl Search: Search plus full-page scraping to clean Markdown in one request.
Side by side
| Exa | Firecrawl Search | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Exa's own web-scale index (it says it crawls billions of documents per day). | The web, news and images (the provider does not name the underlying engine). |
| Returns | JSON results with title, URL, published date and author; optional full page text, highlights and summaries; deep modes can return a synthesized structured output. | Title, URL and description per result; optionally full-page Markdown, HTML, links or screenshots for each result. |
| Before the first call | An account and an API key (Bearer or x-api-key header). | No key to get started (low limits); an account and API key for normal use. |
| Free | $10 in credits every month, plus a $10 onboarding bonus; no payment method required. | 1,000 credits a month, no card (about 500 searches at 2 credits per 10 results). |
| Paid | Search from $4 per 1,000 requests; page contents $1 per 1,000 pages. | Hobby $19/month (or $16/month billed yearly) for 5,000 credits, about 2,500 searches. |
| Acting on a result | Through the web page each result links to | Through the web page each result links to |
| MCP server | Official MCP server: https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp (code: https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server) | Official MCP server: https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp (OAuth: https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth) |
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use Exa?
An account and an API key (Bearer or x-api-key header).
Is Exa free?
$10 in credits every month, plus a $10 onboarding bonus; no payment method required.
What do I need before I can use Firecrawl Search?
No key to get started (low limits); an account and API key for normal use.
Is Firecrawl Search free?
1,000 credits a month, no card (about 500 searches at 2 credits per 10 results).
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
Exa, read on October 15, 2026:
- exa.ai/docs/reference/search: “The full content text of the search result.”
- exa.ai: “Search the largest index of public web and private information.”
- exa.ai: “crawl billions of documents per day”
- exa.ai/docs/reference/exa-mcp: “https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp”
- exa.ai/pricing: “Search From $4 /1k requests”
- exa.ai/pricing: “Contents $1 /1k pages per content type”
- exa.ai/pricing: “Starter Free $10 credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus”
- exa.ai/pricing: “No payment method required”
Firecrawl Search, read on October 15, 2026:
- firecrawl.dev/pricing: “1,000 credits / month”
- firecrawl.dev/pricing: “No cost, no card, no hassle.”
- firecrawl.dev/pricing: “500 searches or 1,000 pages scraped”
- firecrawl.dev/pricing: “Hobby: $19/month billed monthly, or $16/month billed annually, for 5,000 credits per month”
- firecrawl.dev/pricing: “Search costs 2 credits per 10 results.”
- docs.firecrawl.dev/features/search: “No API key needed to get started.”
- docs.firecrawl.dev/features/search: “full-page markdown, HTML, links, or screenshots for each result”
- docs.firecrawl.dev/mcp-server: “https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth”